Elizabeth 'Liz' Mattingly

Elizabeth "Liz" Mattingly, who owned and operated The Farm Hand Restaurant with her mother, died Monday of complications related to heart disease. She was 68.

Born March 21, 1944, in Endicott, N.Y. to Elizabeth and Vernon Lockwood, Mattingly was one of three children.

When she was about 6-years-old, the family moved west to Santa Rosa where Vernon Lockwood pursued a career as a contractor. Mattingly attended Ursuline High School and helped her parents by working in the business they opened on Highway 12 at Mission Avenue: Betty's Donuts.

In 1963, she married John Bertacco. The couple had two daughters and divorced about 10 years later.

She eventually met and married George Mattingly and the two moved to Alaska, making a home between Sitka and Ketchikan. They divorced after 13 years of marriage.

When Mattingly moved back to Santa Rosa, she opened The Farm Hand Restaurant with her mother.

The pair owned the eatery located on Guerneville and Fulton roads for about 15 years, said Mattingly's daughter, Teri Bartholdy of Cloverdale.

"It was a family-owned business," she said. "My aunt worked there and I worked there a little. My mom and grandmother were the cooks."

After the pair left the restaurant, Mattingly worked as a waitress at River Rock Casino but left that job when she suffered health setbacks. She had also spent years as a waitress at Los Robles Lodge.

"I would say her whole life was in the restaurant business other than Alaska," Bartholdy said.

In relaxing moments, Mattingly would head to the coast and watch the water, perhaps spotting a whale, Bartholdy said.

"She loved going out to the ocean, sitting at Bodega Head," she said. "Any time she felt good enough to go, that is what she would do and maybe go to Lucas Wharf for lunch."

She spent her last years living in Valley Ford and spending time with her longtime companion, Richie Allison.

A lifelong Green Bay Packers supporter, Mattingly would make special arrangements to support her team.

"She loved Brett Favre," Bartholdy said. "She would not come over if there was a game she wanted to watch."

A big NASCAR fan, Mattingly's favorite driver was Jeff Gordon and she often wore a Jeff Gordon jacket on race day.

In addition to Bartholdy, Mattingly is survived by her daughter, Lisa Bertacco Bowman of Cloverdale; her brother, Jan Lockwood of Albany, Ore.; and five grandchildren.